› added 5 years ago

76

TIL The King of Siam used to gift albino elephants to courtiers who displeased him, in order to ruin them with the upkeep costs — this is the supposed inspiration for the White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

oXR8 TIL of the The Ketchup ‘n’ Fries plant. Also known as the Pomato is the stem of a tomato plant grafted onto the root system of potato plant that can grow both tomatoes and potatoes at the same time.
ea8n TIL that due to the decline of bees forces apple farmers in China to pollinate every blossom by hand using paintbrushes
a8YeN TIL that Leonard Cohen wrote about 150 different verses for Hallelujah, and that he sung different versions of it at different concerts
LkNlZ TIL that as a child, the "seven nation army" was how Jack White would mispronounce the Salvation Army.
R5MW6 TIL that one month after 9/11 a man stormed the cockpit of an airplane departing Chicago while screaming about crashing into the Sears tower. He was subdued by people onboard, and the plane was escorted back to O'Hare International Airport by fighter jets.